Cookies - Can they do harm?

Cookies have been a worry for many people. Spyware programs usually label them as malicious, but are they really?

The truth is, you need cookies for most browsing. Cookies can NOT harm your computer in any way. Mainly cookies are used to store data when you visit a site. An example I like to use is TV Guide. When you go to their site you can set your area for viewing so you see the channels in your area. These setting are then stored on your computer in a cookie. This way when you return to TV Guide's web site it will know your listings and display them without you having to re-enter the data. No other site can read this cookie, only the site that put it on can read a cookie.

This also goes for shopping carts on sites like Best Buy, Sears, Kmart and so on that need cookies to work properly. However, there are site's that put cookies that can record the sites you visit then when you go to another site that uses that same cookie it will be able to know where you've been, but there is a way to stop this without turning your cookies off.

To keep cookies from following you around go to the setting of your browser and stop it from accepting 3rd party cookies (Internet Explorer go to "tools/Internet Options" and click on the "Privacy" tab and set it to "Low" at least, I recommend "Medium") (in Firefox go to "Tools/Options" and click on the "Privacy" tab and un-check the box that says "Accept third-party cookies").

Another tip, for safer web browsing, you should install and use Firefox as your web browser, it is much safer than Microsoft's Internet Explorer.